Blunkett drops Eurotunnel fines

The government last night dropped the £2,000 fines imposed against Eurotunnel each time a clandestine asylum seeker is discovered on freight trains into Britain.

The home secretary, David Blunkett, said his decision to drop the fines followed a significant drop in the number of clandestine entrants from France and an improvement in Eurotunnel's security.

"It will be kept under constant review and should things deteriorate we should not rule out reimposing the penalty," Mr Blunkett said.

Those discovered arriving in Eurotunnel's freight wagons fell from 808 last July to 32 in December.

A ruling on Eurotunnel's claim that the scheme of fixed fines against the company was unlawful is expected shortly from the court of appeal.

Eurotunnel has campaigned vigorously against the damage done to its freight services since the fines were imposed last October.

Repeated attempts by hundreds of asylum seekers to board trains illicitly on the French side of the tunnel have been reported on television screens on both sides of the Channel.

A spokesman for Eurotunnel said last night: "We are delighted that the government has seen fit to recognise the extensive measures that we have put in place in our French terminal to prevent asylum seekers coming across.

"It's been an investment of £6m for us and we have taken it very seriously."

The company said it had faced fines totalling £560,000, which the Home Office had suspended pending the outcome of the appeal court challenge.

Home Office ministers insisted throughout the six month campaign by Eurotunnel that the company could have done more to improve its security at its terminal at Coquelles, near Calais, to prevent the mass attempts by refugees to board freight trains.

British immigration officers operating at the Gare du Nord station in Paris were also last night given new powers to question suspect passengers on Eurotunnel trains who have tickets only to travel within France.

The British immigration officers currently have powers to check the documents of all Eurotunnel passengers if they have through tickets to London.

The new power will allow them to question those they suspect are illegal entrants who are trying to use their tickets to Calais to travel on to London.